Ombudsman: Special Report on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2023)

In February 2025, the Ombudsman published its Special Report on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (reference year: 2023, available only in Greek), the fifth consecutive report of the Independent Authority since it was given the special responsibility for the external and independent monitoring of the implementation of the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

In this report, the Ombudsman examines shortcomings, deficiencies and distortions at the levels of primary and secondary legislation and administrative functioning and practice with regard to the rights of persons with disabilities. It lists the policy areas where progress has been made in terms of harmonising the national framework with the requirements of the relevant UN Convention, identifies delays and/or unhelpful regulations, formulates and often reiterates proposals for the effective transposition of the provisions of the Convention into regulations, summarising proposals of the Independent Authority that have been accepted and have shaped individual legislative interventions. It assesses the effective implementation of policies and highlights the degree of preparedness of the Independent Authority for the implementation of the Convention. At the same time, the Ombudsman, under its institutional role and with its specific competence, develops actions to promote the UN Convention in the public and private sectors.

The above should be seen in the light of the legislative extension of the scope of application of the principle of equal treatment (irrespective of disability or chronic condition), beyond employment and occupation in the public and private sectors, to all areas where the principle of equal treatment applies, irrespective of ethnic origin, thus providing the Independent Authority with the power to intervene in cases of violation of the principle of equal treatment on the grounds of disability or chronic condition in the provision of goods and services  which are commercially available to the public, including housing. The above allows for a wider scope of action for the Ombudsman, with the aim of promoting and protecting the rights of persons with disabilities, now also as consumers of goods and services.